The TAZO full-leaf Chai available at Starbucks or a few other retailers. This is the perfect blend of black tea, sweetness and spice. There is a hit of black pepper in this blend that thrills me every time!

I got a mix from a girl on Etsy, supposedly her family recipe. It was really good and she even provided excellent instructions on how to brew it and prepare it properly, which I constantly mess up. http://www.etsy.com/shop/chaime

Sadly, I like Stash’s Double Spice Chai, it’s bagged, but a good level of spicy.

Do not do what I did and combined a bag of Double Spice chai plus a bag of Celestial Seasonings “Bengal Spice” which is also spicy, and steep just a cup’s worth. I think the spice heat burned my entire track and I coughed out pure cardamon cinnamon fire. It was great.

I’m spoiled. The best chai I’ve had is homemade from my mother-in-law’s recipe, and incidentally is how my wife and I got started in teas! We use CTC black tea, freshly grated ginger, tea masala powder (you can pick it up in any Indian market) and lowfat milk.

I am not a huge fan of chai tea’s but I think the nicest and spiciest one I have had was Chilli Chai by Teapigs. It had the original chai flavours (ginger, cinnamon, cardamom etc) but it also has a few chilli seeds that left a tingle on the lips. I found the tingle very pleasurable, it didn’t really burn or act too overpoweringly but it was still warming. A perfect balance of spiciness.

So far, the only Chai tea I really like is Good Earth’s Vanilla Chai. I had some Chai at The Coffee Beanery it tasted great at 1st but then it tasted funky weird. Maybe it’s one of those things that I got to have in small doses and/or be in the right mood for. I have been thinking about checking out the Tazo brand, as Winter is coming and I do not like driving out in it much so will be stocking up as much as my little budget will allow. With Winter, I suspect I will be drinking a lot more teas.

Hmm.. someone restarted this! :D Since I posted this, I’ve found I really love Fusion’s chai blends, and none of those are even fully chai blends (They have rooibos chai, pu-erh chai, etc. OH, and the energizing chai from Zentealife.com is amazing!